INTERNATIONAL - From the 300-plus crystal chandeliers to the
gold-plated taps in the bathrooms, Donald Trump has transformed a hotel
overlooking one of the world’s most legendary golf courses into an eponymous
glittering palace.

Members gathering for their tee
times on a recent cloudy Wednesday say they love many of the changes at the
Trump Turnberry resort in Scotland,
but they doubt the president will ever make his money back.

“It’s a personal investment
in aggrandizement,” says Mervyn Caplan, a member for the past 17 years, sipping
tea in the clubhouse. “He’ll never get a return on the capital he’s invested.”

So far, that looks like a
sound prediction. Financial reports made public in the UK over the
weekend show Trump last year faced mounting losses at Turnberry and his other
Scottish golf resort, forcing him to inject more cash to cover shortfalls.
Losses at Trump Turnberry, his biggest investment outside of the U.S., more than
doubled to 17.6 million pounds ($23 million) in 2016, while revenue fell 21 percent
to 9 million pounds. Trump’s course north of Aberdeen also posted widening losses of 1.4
million pounds, an increase of 28 percent, while revenue fell 12 percent.

Eric Trump, son of U.S. President Donald Trump, speaks during the opening ceremony for the new golf course at Trump Turnberry in Ayrshire, Scotland, Wednesday June 28, 2017. Trump Turnberry is created as a luxury resort.( Jane Barlow/PA via AP)

Beyond last year’s losses,
however, the latest disclosures show Trump has now poured a combined 152
million pounds, or nearly $200 million, into the ventures without either one
turning a profit under his ownership. The results, among the few made public
anywhere in the world for Trump’s private businesses, may add to questions
about whether his brand of divisive politics is starting to take some of the
luster off of his businesses.

His ‘Baby’

Turnberry offers a test.
Perched on the windswept west coast of Scotland, the British Open
Championship course was among the world’s most famous and top-rated courses for
decades before Trump purchased it in 2014 and put his name above the door. He
has called the 800-acre resort his “baby,” setting it apart from the 14 other golf
properties he owns in the US, UK, and Ireland. It remains one of the top-rated
golf courses in the world.

Turnberry’s 103-room hotel
is a building from a grander era, erected as part of the British Railway’s
extension into rural Scotland
at the turn of the 20th century. As he renovated the hotel and reconfigured the
championship course last year, Trump increased a personal loan to the resort’s
operating company, boosting it to 112 million pounds, up from 63 million
pounds. His company has continued pouring money in since, completing a second,
18-hole layout that opened in June 2017.

Directors for the company
that runs Trump Turnberry attributed the loss primarily to the resort’s closing
for just under six months during renovations, although it was reopened in time
to catch most of the 2016 golf season.

While Turnberry’s flagship
Ailsa golf course was busy during a recent mid-week visit, and fully booked for
weekends in September, hotel occupancy is down, according to a person familiar
with the business. The prices -- a deluxe ocean view room in October was listed
on the website for 569 pounds a night, or about $744 -- may play a role.

Eric Trump, who has taken
over Scottish operations for his father since he took office, declined to
comment through a spokeswoman for the Trump Organization, Amanda Miller.
Although Miller invited questions by email, she did not reply to emails or
return phone calls.

FILE - In this July 29, 2015 file photo, a helicopter owned by Donald Trump departs from the Turnberry golf course in Turnberry, Scotland, A financial report filed with the British government shows Donald Trump is losing millions for a third year in a row on a couple of his biggest investments: his Scottish golf resorts. A report from Britain’s Companies House shows losses last year at the two resorts more than doubled to 17.6 million pounds ($23 million). Revenue also fell sharply.
The company attributed the results partly to having shut down its Turnberry resort for half the year while fixing up a course. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell, File)

Divisiveness

In addition to the prices,
Trump’s divisiveness does appear to be keeping some visitors away. Sam Baker,
founder of Cincinnati, Ohio-based Haversham & Baker, which organizes tours
for Americans to play golf in Britain
and Ireland,
says about 20 clients since the election volunteered that they wanted to avoid
Trump’s courses. “There’s been a smattering of people saying they didn’t vote
for him and won’t go to his properties,” Baker says, adding he’s also heard
people say, “‘I really don’t like him, but I love what he’s done for
Turnberry.’ There’s a grudging respect.”

Even among those who play,
Trump-branded gear looks to be a tough sell. Fiona Hunter, a long-time
Turnberry member, said the pro-shop tried to get rid of the Trump gear by
offering two-for-one deals, because visitors weren’t buying. “They started
selling more things with just ‘Turnberry,’” she said.

Still, politics can cut two
ways. On a recent evening, two visitors from Mississippi walked into the bar and ordered
beer, professing their support for Trump and marveling at the décor.

“I played Doral in June but
this is much more exclusive,” said Ben Dehart, a dentist who voted for Trump
and says he’s doing a good job. “They have towel warmers in the bathroom!”

Perhaps the greatest
short-term threat to Turnberry is the possibility that Trump’s ownership could
delay consideration of the British Open’s return; it is golf’s oldest and most
prestigious tournament. Even without political controversy, a course owned by
any US president would bring security risks and potential protests.

“We are in uncharted
territory here with the president’s family owning golf courses,” Martin
Slumbers, the chief of The Royal and Ancient, which runs the tournament, told
reporters in February.

The earliest Turnberry would
be considered is 2022, he said, when Trump may, or may not, be out of office.
Slumbers told Bloomberg News: “Turnberry remains one of the Open venues and
will be considered in future years.”

Aberdeen

Trump’s other Scottish
course, although less costly, has been more politically troublesome, long
before the campaign. Set on 1,400 acres just north of Aberdeen, it opened in 2012 after years of
clashes with locals over planning and environmental concerns.

It has never made a profit.
Trump was forced to loan an additional 1.2 million pounds to the resort last
year, bringing his total loans there to 40.6 million pounds. The directors
blamed last year’s losses on weather and declining oil prices; the local
economy is dependent on the North Sea energy
business.

Hopes to bring big events
into Aberdeen
appear directly imperiled by Trump’s politics. Martin Gilbert, chief executive
of Aberdeen Asset Management, a Scottish Open sponsor, said the controversies
surrounding the president would make it difficult to stage the tournament at
his course. “Politics aside, Trump would be an ideal venue - but you can’t put
politics aside,” he told reporters in July.

The resorts’ debts, among
the few that public records show are personally shouldered by Trump for any of
his business interests, raised questions, even before the latest results showed
they were growing.

Earlier this year, golf
writer James Dodson, co-author of Arnold Palmer’s autobiography, said Eric
Trump told him in 2014 that the family had “all the funding we need out of Russia” for
golf. “We don’t rely on American banks,” Dodson quoted him as saying; in
response to a question prompted by the fact that many banks were steering clear
of golf.